GRATITUDE HEALS

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Psalms of Thanksgiving

Learning to Pray from the Psalms, Part 7

(Click here for part one)

by Pastor Paul Dugan

Did you know that gratitude is proven to contribute to greater mental, relational, and spiritual health? Thanksgiving is a key to human well-being! This is the conclusion of a growing number of respected scientific studies, ex. Psychology Today, and Berkeley.

No wonder one that so many of the psalms are songs of thanksgiving.

The Psalms provide a “playlist” for all dimensions of the human experience, for all parts of the human soul. This playlist includes a wide variety of genres that help us gather the whole of our lives in honest and grateful prayer before God.

The Psalms have changed my life. They have become medicine for my soul.

Today we explore the Psalms of Thanksgiving.

Psalm 30 is a classic example of a thanksgiving psalm:

 I will exalt you, Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me. You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit.

Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.  (Psalm 30:1-5)

The psalms of thanksgiving in the Hebrew bible arise in response to a good harvest, healing of disease, victory in battle, deliverance from enemies, trouble, and danger. 

Common elements of psalms of thanks:

a. description of past trouble,

b. remembrance of their cry for help,

c. description of God’s wonderful deliverance, 

d. a call to respond in praise and thanks for the Lord’s mighty deeds.

Examples of psalms of thanksgiving:  Psalm 9, 32, 34, 67, 92, 107, 116, 118, 124, 126, 138

How to craft your own psalm of thanksgiving:

Describe a past trouble…

and how you called on the Lord

Describe the Lord’s deliverance…

Based on his deliverance, how can you encourage others to praise and thank him?

This is part seven in a ten-part series on how to pray the psalms. Part eight is here. To return to part one, click here.

For an index to digital prayer guides to more than one hundred individual psalms, click here.